Publications

March 2020
Case

ZEISS Group: Organize by Customer Culture?

By: Willy C. Shih

How should ZEISS, the German manufacturer of precision optical and optoelectronic systems manage two historic businesses that operated fairly autonomously? The Industrial Quality Solutions (IQS) business sold measurement equipment to manufacturing companies in sectors... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Manufacturing Industry; Europe; Germany

07 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Whatever Happened to Caveat Emptor?

countries. In his new book, Consumer Capitalism: Politics, Product Markets, and Firm Strategy in France and Germany, Trumbull looks at the implications of this rise of consumer protectionism. Sean... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

March 2018 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Nectar (A)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Thomas O. Jones

In late 2017, Nectar was a rapidly emerging player in the “bed-in-a-box” online market for direct-to-consumer foam memory mattresses. Barely a year old, it had achieved a revenue run rate of $85M and looked ahead to another year of blistering growth. The founding team... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Growth and Development Strategy; Product; Diversification; Decision Making; Growth Management; Entrepreneurship

February 2006 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Sippican Corporation (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Presents a time-driven version of the Wilkerson Co. activity-based costing case (101092). Faced with declining profits, Sippican Corp. is struggling to understand why it is encountering severe price competition on one product line. The controller collects data that... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Strategic Planning; Cost Accounting; Motivation and Incentives; Resource Allocation; Activity Based Costing and Management; Profit; Business Strategy; Budgets and Budgeting

Research Summary

Overview

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Rayport focuses his teaching and research on launching and scaling technology ventures, with emphasis on digital media, e-commerce, and multi-channel retail. View Details

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Managerial Control of Business Press Coverage

By: Eugene F. Soltes and David H. Solomon

The business press plays a significant role in distributing firm news to investors. We investigate the extent to which managers can influence their firm's level of coverage in newswires and newspapers. We consider three choices under managerial control: press release... View Details

Keywords: Announcements; Governance Controls; News; Communication Strategy; Journalism and News Industry

SSRN

May 2014
Case

Building a High Performance Culture at IDFC

By: V.G. Narayanan and Vidhya Muthuram

IDFC was set up in 1997 to direct private finance to infrastructure projects in India. Over the years, it expanded its capabilities to become a 'complete solutions provider' offering financing solutions including debt and equity, investment banking, brokerage and asset... View Details

March 2001 (Revised February 2009)
Case

HDFC (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Suma Raju

The top management team at India's leading home finance company must decide how to deal with the emergence of intense competition at the end of the 1990s. Having founded the industry and dominated it for nearly 20 years, the well-respected company faces a bevy of new... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Management Style; Management Teams; Competition; Financial Services Industry; India

09 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Location, Location, Location: The Strategy of Place

is whether the business can afford to spend the required resources—especially when it means siphoning time and attention away from an existing successful business. "When you open a new operation, it requires not only money but also... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 2009 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Milliway Capital: Battening Down the Hatches

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Facing the downturn in late 2008, the partners in a West-Coast venture capital firm are trying to decide how to manage their portfolio companies and whether to make new investments. Not only must they consider the particulars of each company individually, but they must... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Financial Management; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry; Western United States

22 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Consumer Demand for Prize-Linked Savings: A Preliminary Analysis

Keywords: by Peter Tufano, Nick Maynard & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve; Financial Services

July 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

MC Tool

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Sean Witty and Jason Premo acquired MC Tool, a machine shop located in South Carolina in 2007 with the intent to transform it into a precision manufacturer. Witty and Premo were able to more than double revenue to $6 million in their first year of managing MC by... View Details

Keywords: Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Production; Transformation; Problems and Challenges; Financial Condition; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; United States

August 2011
Case

Mibanco: Meeting the Mainstreaming of Microfinance (MM)

By: Michael Chu, Gustavo Herrero and Jean Hazell

Facing an increasingly competitive microfinance market in Peru, Mibanco must continually optimize its product offerings, marketing operations, and human resource management to stay on top. This multimedia courseware provides visual orientation to enable viewers to more... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Markets; Change; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Employees; Marketing; Operations; Human Resources; Financial Services Industry; Peru

October 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Lexar Media: The Digital Photography Company?

Examines growth options for a start-up that has parlayed its core technology in flash memory controllers into a rapidly growing position in the emerging digital photography industry. The new CEO must decide whether LexarMedia should maintain its identity as a digital... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Technology Industry

June 2018
Teaching Note

Kvadrat: Leading for Innovation

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2013, Anders Byriel, CEO of the family-owned Danish textiles company, Kvadrat, considered the firm's strategic plan. In 2000, Byriel and Mette Bendix, Kvadrat's Product Director, had taken over management of the company from their fathers, who had founded Kvadrat in... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Human Resources; Asia

11 Aug 2021
Blog Post

The Equity Network: How HBS Helped Me Launch a Tech-Enabled Social Enterprise

Kristina Hu is from the Class of 2022 and a proud member of Section H. After graduating from Harvard College in 2016, she worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley before pivoting into tech, eventually becoming a product View Details

May 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Biocon Limited

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ananth Chepuri

Biocon Limited was facing significant pricing pressure in their cash cow business, that primarily consisted of manufacturing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs). To combat this commoditization, Biocon's leadership had chosen an innovation-led strategy. This new... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Management; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Biotechnology Industry; India

April 2016
Teaching Note

Cree Inc.: Introducing the LED Light Bulb

By: John Gourville and Michael Norris

This case is taught as part of the first year required marketing course in the Harvard Business School's MBA program. This course is built around the "Four Ps," with modules focusing on product, promotion, place, and pricing. The Cree case is used in the product policy... View Details

Keywords: Lighting Industry; Marketing; Pricing; Promotion; Technological Innovation; Energy Conservation; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry